March 29, 2011

Sailing the Seas with Ray Stevens...

It isn't something I normally keep track of but I was reading some things on the internet the other day stating that the Gilbert and Sullivan opera, The Pirates of Penzance, opened in London for the first time on April 3, 1880 and, doing the math, it's nearing the end of a 130 year anniversary. This comical opera, in addition to pirate culture in general, no doubt inspired Buddy Kalb and his wife, Carlene, to write "The Pirate Song" which is sub-titled "I Want To Sing and Dance". The song was recorded by Ray Stevens in 1985 and was part of his comedy album, I Have Returned. The album is coming off of an anniversary...it was 25 years ago this month, March 1986, that the album was #1 on the country album chart. The album had been released late in 1985 and slowly made it's way up to #1. His previous album titled He Thinks He's Ray Stevens, released late in 1984, was still on the charts around the time his 1985 album made it's debut. Ray made a music video of this song in 2000 and included it in a home video titled Funniest Video Characters. The music video is as funny as you may expect (for those familiar with the song). Toward the end of the song Ray, in gruff pirate vocal, mentions the Gilbert and Sullivan duo. The focal point of the song is the contrasts between a traditional gruff-speaking, bloodthirsty pirate and a not so gruff speaking, bloodthirsty pirate. Each pirate is voiced by Ray and it's the passive pirate who takes center stage with dreams of being in the Pirates of Penzance...singing and dancing his way into world history. A later recording of this song arrived in 1991 and even a third recording emerged in 2000 when the music video was put together. The original is on this 1985 album whereas the 1991 and 2000 re-recordings often show up on compilation releases.

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About Me

I'm a big fan of what's called classic country music. I love the HEE-HAW television program and I like watching vintage cartoons. I have four blogs...the main one is devoted to Ray Stevens. My Ray Stevens blog is written from a fan's perspective. The opinions and expressions discussed in this blog are of my own creation and should not be taken as representation of Ray Stevens and his office staff. I'm simply a dedicated, though opinionated, fan of Ray's who likes discussing his music and career. This fan-created blog page is something that I started when I got fed up with the lack of accurate information about Ray Stevens that was circulating on the internet.

2012

The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music became available on February 28th; It's an impressive set featuring 9-CD's and a booklet; There are 108 recordings altogether and the booklet gives in-depth detail about each of the songs and their impact on society; Ray covers practically all the major comedy/novelty songs that have been recorded over the last 60 plus years; It's a marvelous collection!!

2014

Ray's memoir, Nashville, is a great book! If you don't have a copy I suggest you purchase one...any fan of Ray Stevens should get this book.

2016

Ray's recording, "Dear America", demonstrates that America is still the greatest country on Earth regardless of internal conflicts and imperfections; A loving tribute to the country and a defiant plea that the country's values and traditions should still continue to be championed and fought for; Excellent recording!

2017

Season One DVD of Ray's television series; It contains the first 13 episodes broadcast on local PBS stations from earlier this year; These episodes originally aired on RFD-TV but they were repeated on PBS stations starting this past January; Some local PBS stations aired all 26 episodes from the RFD run while other local PBS stations aired the first 13 episodes and then began airing the PBS exclusives which became available over the summer months; Future DVD releases are expected.

2017

Season Two of the Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville series; This volume consists of episodes guest starring the likes of Bill Anderson, Con Hunley, Williams and Ree, Leroy Van Dyke, and many more!! A perfect companion to Season One; Each season contains 13 half hour episodes.

2018

The Ray Stevens CabaRay Showroom officially opened to the public on January 18, 2018; This date is signifcant in the career of Ray Stevens in that it's the date he arrived in Nashville in 1962; The facility houses an entire array of entertainment from the main showroom to a piano bar, a gift shop, and it also houses his recording studios for audio and video productions; The upcoming Sixth Season of his PBS television series, CabaRay Nashville, is being taped at the showroom; These episodes represent the first to be taped at the venue.